Industry minister to meet General Motors CEO on Oshawa plant closure

The Canadian Press

Updated: January 11, 2019

General Motors CEO Mary Barra speaks to reporters after a meeting with Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, to discuss GM's announcement it would stop making the Chevy Cruze at its Lordstown, Ohio, plant, part of a massive restructuring for the Detroit-based automaker, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018. Canada's industry minister will meet with General Motors CEO Mary Barra on Monday to urge her to find a solution for the auto giant's soon-to-be-shuttered plant in Oshawa. Ontario. J. Scott Applewhite / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OTTAWA — Canada’s industry minister will meet with General Motors CEO Mary Barra on Monday to urge her to find a solution for the auto giant’s soon-to-be-shuttered plant in Oshawa. Ont.

A spokeswoman for Navdeep Bains says he will sit down with Barra at the International Auto Show in Detroit.

Dani Keenan says he intends to discuss any possible options for keeping the factory open.

Their meeting comes after GM’s announcement last fall that it plans to close the factory at the end of this year — a move that will put more than 2,500 employees out of work.

At the time of the announcement, provincial and federal leaders alike conceded the futility of trying to persuade the automaker to keep its Oshawa plant running beyond the end of 2019.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he told Barra that he was deeply disappointed about the closure and insisted his government would do everything possible to help laid-off auto employees and their families.

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